FEATURE
2022 POLICE SERVICES HERO OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS HUMBLED BY THE HONOUR With over 300 nominations submitted by the public for the seventh annual Police Services Hero of the Year awards, the PAO Awards Committee had no easy task in selecting the winners in three categories. Read on to learn more about this year’s winners—and remember, all finalists, nominees and sworn and civilian members are police heroes. By Lauren Alpern
Graham MacGregor, Ontario Provincial Police: On-Duty Difference Maker— Uniform/Sworn Police Officer On September 28, 2019, Constable Graham MacGregor of the South Porcupine OPP detachment charged Andréa Lafleur with careless driving after she had crashed her vehicle into a tree. Her car was full of drug paraphernalia, although she was sober. She, however, was actually an addict suffering from PTSD after being a trafficking victim in British Columbia years earlier. She had hit rock bottom and was thinking it would have been fine if the crash had ended her life. Enter Graham. While he didn’t know Andréa’s story until he read her statement, he did make her take accountability for her actions by laying charges and following up on them. He then followed up with Victim Services, connecting her with detectives who could help her, and setting in motion a course of events that changed Andréa’s life. She admitted herself to hospital, spending 38 days in the Mental Health Unit, 14 days in a shelter, eight weeks in a trauma-based treatment facility and four months in a treatment facility. Graham visited Andréa at the hospital to see how she was doing—the only visitor she had.
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THE DISPATCH
President Mark Baxter presents Graham MacGregor with his award.
SUMMER 2022
